Happy Valentine's Day
by GeckoPixie
Summary: A short Valentine's Day Story with my characters. A little cheesy. Now formatted correctly, heh.
1. Talk to Him

Haha! Finally the formatting is fixed so this should be easier on the eyes. This is my first story to be posted on the web (woohoo!), and I know its a bit cheesy. The story itself is rather short. I hadn't expected to 6 chapters to come from it.  
Some stuff you should know about he characters:   
  
Mahalia is a seamstress' apprentice.  
Cordelia is her best friend from the Bronx  
Serge is a delivery/errand boy for the seamstress shop where Mahalia works.  
Shadow is a good friend of Serge's.  
I don't own Mush (heh).  
  
SO...without further ado...here's chapter one:  
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"Look, he's by himself. Go talk to him!"  
  
"Mahalia, what can I say?"  
  
"Just say 'hello' 'how are you?' 'I think you're very good looking' "  
  
"I can't say that. He'll think I'm too forward."  
  
"Well, then don't tell him you like him, but you bought him a gift, Cordy. You have to give it to him."  
  
"It's not a gift. I prefer to call it a token of appreciation," Cordelia said tossing her head back dramatically.  
  
"Whatever it is, you have to give to him. He's right there." And with that Mahalia shoved Cordelia out the lodging house door.   
  
Cordelia caught her balance on the top of the steps. If she tried to turn back now,   
she'd look like a fool. She turned around towards the street and saw Shadow leaning on a lamp post, staring dreamily off in the distance.   
  
Cordelia cleared her throat, but he continued to gaze into space. She took a deep breath, remembering the 'actress relaxation techniques' she had discovered.  
  
"What are you doing out here alone?" she said descending the stone steps and walking towards Shadow.  
  
He seemed to hear her this time and turned to look at her. Cordelia smiled at him as she notice how the amber glow of the street light fell upon his head and shoulders, and how it made their rising clouds of breath shimmer in the air. His wide mouth twitched into a quick fleeting smile.  
  
"Nothing, really," he said in response to Cordelia's question.  
  
"It's awful cold to just be standing here," Cordelia said pulling her coat closer to her.  
  
"It is."  
  
She paused, thinking of what to say next. "It's Valentine's Day. You should be inside talking about your day's adventures with the rest of the boys."  
  
Shadow raised an eyebrow. "It's Valentine's day? I guess that's why all the gents in the city were walking around with roses. Did Serge take Mahalia out?"  
  
"No. She says he never even mentioned the day."  
  
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Inside, Mahalia peered out the lodging house window and watched as Cordelia tried to start conversation with the appropriately-named Shadow. As usual, he wasn't speaking much and his feelings were a mystery. She turned away, silently wishing Cordy luck.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Mush asked as Mahalia came away from the window.  
  
"I live here with the rest of you," she said looking at him strangely.  
  
"No, I mean, I woulda thought for sure that you'd be wit Serge right now."  
  
Mahalia shrugged nonchalantly. "We never talked about doing anything tonight."  
  
No they hadn't. In fact, Serge seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that it was Valentine's Day at all. Of course, being with him at work and exchanging the usual evening kiss was nice, but today he didn't even walk her home. Mahalia was a romantic and a daydreamer (she knew this) and she had imagined a romantic evening. It was her first Valentine's Day with a valentine and she was standing in the lodging house without her significant other. Hopefully, this wasn't some sort of omen. She really liked Serge.   
  
She turned her attention back to Mush, who had taken off his cap and let his curly hair free.  
  
"How was your evening, Mush?"  
  
"Very nice. I doubled with Blink. We went out for dinner with what we'd saved." Mush said with a grin.  
  
"Sounds like you had a good time. Where's Blink now?"  
  
"Oh, I did," Mush's grin widened. "Blink…well, he decided to stay out a little longer." Mush wiggled his eyebrows. Mahalia rolled her eyes good-naturedly. 


	2. A Gift

"Did you do anything today?" Shadow asked.  
  
"Well, Mahalia and I spent some time together after she got off of work. We walked around the city a bit. It was good fun as usual. Oh! Which reminds me." She paused looking at Shadow, wondering if she should continue. His hazel eyes were on her, waiting for her to continue and so she did. "I heard you appreciate fine confections."  
  
He smiled at this. "I do. I constantly have a sweet tooth."  
  
"So I've heard. Just like Mahalia. She's addicted to chocolate." This was good. Serge had given her good advice. "Mahalia and I found a very nice little confectionery and I thought of you. So, um, I picked this up for you."  
  
She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out small package, about the size of a large chocolate bar, wrapped in red paper. "It's from Norway," she added. "But if you don't like, you can give it to Mahalia." she said with a gentle chuckle.  
  
Shadow raised his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn't expected to receive a gift on a holiday that he'd forgotten. What surprised him even more was that she had thought of him and had gotten him something that she'd know he'd like. "Thank you, and I'm sure I'll like it."  
  
"Well, then, Happy Valentine's Day." Cordelia said. She smiled at him and turned towards the lodging house. "Are you coming in?"  
  
"Yeah," Shadow said. He paused for a moment before starting towards the lodging house after her. "Cordelia, wait a second."  
  
She turned toward him waiting.  
  
"Before we go in, I just want you to know that I appreciate you thinking of me." As he closed his mouth after speaking, he felt silly for having said what he had.  
  
"It hard not to." She heard the blunder in her words and made an effort to cover it up. "I mean we were in the confectionery and I knew you liked sweets…"  
  
Shadow nodded and caught up to where Cordelia stood. "I'm sorry I don't have something to give you…"  
  
"Don't worry about it. I wasn't expecting anything," she said with a shrug.  
  
"Well, thank you," he said.  
  
He really did appreciate the fact that he had been thought of. Cordelia was smiling at him. Half of her light brown hair was tied up in a bun. The rest hung nicely about her shoulders. Her brown eyes seemed to be fixed on him. He leaned in awkwardly and planted a kiss on her cheek.   
  
"Happy Valentine's Day," he said with a sheepish smile before walking into the Lodging House.  
  
Cordelia stood on the sidewalk grinning to herself, still feeling his cold lips on her cheek. She sighed happily and continued towards the lodging house. 


	3. Valentines

Mahalia was sitting on an old couch in the foyer when Cordelia entered. She immediately jumped up, with a curious smile on her face, and the two of them hurried up the stairs to a corner of the empty washroom.  
  
"What happened?" Mahalia asked, her eyes aglow with curiosity.  
  
"Well, we started off talking about simple things. How he didn't know it was Valentine's Day and how you weren't going out tonight and about what you and I did today-"  
  
"And?" Mahalia asked impatiently.  
  
Cordelia, who was building her story and did not want to be interrupted, stared at her friend with a dead pan expression.   
  
"As I was saying, I told him how we stopped into the confectionery and how I knew he liked sweets and then, I gave him the chocolate." She paused and smiled.  
  
"What'd he say?"  
  
"He said he appreciated that I thought of him. And just before he came inside he kissed me on the cheek," Cordelia said grinning.  
  
"See! I told you that you had to talk to him."  
  
"Thank you for pushing me out the door."  
  
"I knew something had happened. He came in looking a little less serious than he usually is. This is so cute" she cooed. "So now you both have valentines." 


	4. Talk to Her

"Hey, Serge. You here to see Mahalia?" Shadow said as his friend entered the LH.  
  
Serge shrugged in reply. "We didn't make any plans today."  
  
"I heard. Not big on the Valentine's Day thing?"  
  
Again Serge shrugged. "You got plans fer tonight, Pat?"  
  
Shadow smiled and retold what had occurred earlier. Serge couldn't help smiling himself as he remembered how Cordelia had asked him questions about Patrick throughout the week.  
  
"Did you tell her how you feel about her?" Serge asked with a knowing grin when Shadow had finished.  
  
"No."  
  
"No? She obviously has been thinking about you. Doesn't that mean anythin?"  
  
"Not necessarily…"  
  
"What if I told you that I know there's somthin' there? Stop being mysterious and go talk to her."  
  
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Mahalia and Cordelia entered the bunkroom and approached Mahalia's bunk.  
  
"You can sleep in this bunk. I think it'll be empty tonight."  
  
"Hey, Hale, what's that on your bed."   
  
Mahalia took a closer look at her bunk and noticed there was a piece of paper on the bed with two words neatly printed on it: "Fire escape." She and Cordelia looked out the window closest to Mahalia's bunk. On the fire escape was another piece of paper. "Roof", it said. Mahalia grabbed the coat she had sewn herself and stepped out on to the fire escape.  
  
"You think this is safe, right, Cordy? I mean there's not gonna be some Jack the Ripper up there…right?" Mahalia asked her friend. She wondered if she ought to be following these notes.  
  
Just then Shadow walked into the bunkroom, wearing his usual unexpressive face. He approached Cordelia and Mahalia, and as he grew closer they noticed he was blushing a bit.   
  
"I think you'll be fine." Cordelia said to Mahalia. "Do you want me to come with you?"  
  
Mahalia looked into the window at Shadow. "No," she said with a quick wink. "But if I'm not in my bunk tomorrow you know what happened to me and you can have my clothes." She began climbing up to the roof. 


	5. Surprises

Note: I can't do italics on notepad (if anyone knows how, let me know, heh). There's a part in the following chapter where Shadow's thinking to himself while he converses. The words in single quotes ('for example') are his thoughts. And onto chapter 6.....  
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Cordelia turned from the window and smiled quickly at Shadow.   
  
"I wanted to talk to you, I guess…" Shadow began.  
  
"Well, why don't we sit somewhere?" Cordelia said, and they both made there way towards a bunk at the far end of the room.  
  
"I know we haven't known each other all that long but I've enjoyed the few times I've spent with you, Mahalia, and Serge." Shadow paused. 'really smooth' he groaned inwardly. 'get to the point!' "I'd like to get to know you better," 'and…?' he thought to himself. "If you wouldn't mind I'd like" 'you to be my girl' "to have a date with you tomorrow evening…if you're not busy."  
  
She thought for a moment and smiled "No, I'm not busy. I'd be glad to go out with you tomorrow." She continued slowly, "Anything else you'd like to talk about?"  
  
"Um… I hear you're in a play…"  
  
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Mahalia made her way up to the top of the building and pulled her coat around her as a chilling breeze swept by. All was quiet on the roof as she looked around. A sound in the corner caught her eye and she thought she saw movement in the shadows. After staring in that direction for a while she realized that it must be a sleeping pigeon. There didn't seem to be anything on the roof. Maybe the notes had just been a joke. As she turned back towards the fire escape, something caught her eye on the short stone wall around the roof.  
  
She made her way over and found a red rose with a note attached to it: "Turn Around." She did so and from the shadows emerged Serge. Mahalia grinned and held the rose close to her face as he approached her. He greeted her with a kiss.   
  
"Come on," he said taking her hand and running towards the stairs. 


	6. Good Night

Some things fixed in this chapter -_0 (hopefully everything that needs to be...)  
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Cordelia stifled a yawn.   
  
"Well, you look tired."  
  
"I am. I woke up early to get down here."  
  
Shadow nodded. "I'll leave you then. Thank you again for the chocolate. And happy Valentine's Day." He stood up and headed towards the door. Cordelia stood behind him and watched as he exited. She flopped down on the bunk happily.  
  
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"Here we are," Serge said as they entered the back door of Irving Hall. Serge nodded at a young man who was manning the door. They walked to the wings of the stage  
  
"It's a Valentine's day show." Mahalia smiled as she heard the dance orchestra begin a light waltz.  
  
"May I have this dance?" Serge asked. Soon the two of them were waltzing about back stage as if it was their own personal dance floor.  
  
"Happy Valentine's Day, Halie." he said softly. He proceeded to interrupt their dance with a soft kiss.  
  
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He walked her back to the Lodging House and stopped outside the girl's bunkroom to receive his gift.  
  
"Don't open it here," Mahalia said, feeling slightly self-conscious about whether he'd like it or not.  
  
Serge laughed and put it in his coat pocket.  
  
"I had a wonderful night, Serge," Mahalia said as they reached the front steps of the lodging house.  
  
"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," Serge said happily, and he kissed her goodnight  
  
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"I've been waiting for you," Cordelia whispered from the bunk next to Mahalia's. "It's been a wonderful night."  
  
Mahalia could hear her friend smiling as she talked. She too smiled. "Yes it has. I've always loved Valentine's Day."  
  
Cordelia scoffed. "You know that's not true. But now that Serge is around…"  
  
"Like you were a Valentine's fan before you laid eyes on Shadow."  
  
"Actually, if you'll remember I always, said - "  
  
"SHHH!" someone hissed.  
  
"We'll talk tomorrow. Good night." Mahalia whispered.  
  
The two girls drifted off to sleep, smiling as they thought of their unexpected but wonderful nights. 


End file.
